This invention relates generally to seats, and specifically to child safety seats of the type that are releasably mounted onto car seats in order that the occupant be provided with enhanced security from injury during automobile travel. Such seats are now legally mandated in many parts of the world. The particular embodiment disclosed in this application is a convertible-type child safety seat designed to be placed in either a forward-facing or rearward-facing orientation with respect to the automobile or other vehicle in which it is mounted. In either case, the seat is attached to the vehicle seat with either the vehicle passenger seat belt, or with special latches, for example “Isofix” latches, by which the child safety seat is latched to the vehicle body.
Whether forward or rearward-facing, child safety seats are subject to substantial acceleration during a vehicle collision. Various factors, including whether the collision is to the front or rear of the vehicle and whether the child safety seat is facing to the front or the rear determine the amount of force transmitted through the vehicle, the child safety seat and to the seat occupant. In the particular embodiment disclosed in this application, the child safety seat has a range of adjustment by which the seating element can be placed into a relatively upright or reclined position. This requires a degree of adjusting movement between the stationary base and moveable seating element. It has been found desirable to limit the load placed on the seating element and base by accommodating and restricting acceleration of the seating element relative to the base.
Because the sole purpose of the child safety seat is to protect the occupant, the load limiting feature can be made deliberately sacrificial whereby elements of the seat are damaged to the point where the seat is no longer operable. By rendering the seat adjustment feature of the seat inoperable as a result of an impact, the seat is more likely to be discarded and replaced, rather than to be continued in use.